Grief is an interesting topic for LORE from several perspectives. Vampires are fairly often tied to grief (notably, one of the most influential pieces of writing in recent history, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ by Anne Rice, predominantly deals with grief through the lense of vampirism), however in my world that is far more weird a subject. For one, my vampires can choose to die, for another they have very few weaknesses that can kill them outright, and yet they are certainly not untouchable or undefeatable (the Guard being a good example of this). All that on top of their ability to revive people as well. All of which are only mentioned or implied in the novel: the Widow’s scars prevailing, the death of multiple family members, the Widow’s friends implied to still be alive despite the tragedy that befell them, the Guard’s death, even the Rebel Queen’s sleep. 

Grief permeates every aspect of this. 

Notably the Elders are the linchpin to some of these aspects, the key players in a life and death game as seen by the Widow at the beginning of the novel. 

So why grief, I ask myself again.

And the answer turns out to be fairly simple.

In true Mad Queen style it boils down to ”Why not?”. 

To add a bit more detail, death fascinates me. Its very existence, the question of an afterlife, what that afterlife might look like or be experienced, and then, of course, how loved ones might react to the deaths, how do they cope or not cope, what memories remain, what feelings and whether these are simple or complex and what makes them so. 

My vampires (and boy do I wish I beam into your brains where I foresee this series going) go through their lives knowing death is always looming somewhere ahead. They have to since they live in a world dominated (at least overtly) by humans. And yet they see death just as complicated a process as we do – and sometimes entirely other. 

In the end, I found it a more compelling point to delve into than what had initially driven me to write the aforementioned Columns which was a far more simple world-building-heavy adventure story. 

Fundamentally – I understood as I continued writing – my supernaturals cannot have a simple adventure story, they are too stuck inside their heads (a trait shared with their creator, I will admit). So grief became the theme through which everything else occurred, including, if not especially, the Ephemerid in the end. 

So yes, grief is portrayed, but that is only a road toward the rest of the world within.